Door-check.



w. H. ASPEGRE'N.

DOOR CHECK. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 15, 1911.

Patented June-11, 1912.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH IO-,WASHINGTON. n. c.

DOOR-CHECK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 19.1 2.

Application filed August 15, 1911. Serial No. 644,192.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. Asrn- GRiiN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Quincy, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Door-Checks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in door checks and has for its object to provide a simple, practical and effective device for checking a door in its closing movement without the use of air. or liquid for a checking medium.

Another object is to provide means whereby the check may be locked out of action either to hold the door partly open or to permit it to be entirely closed without any checking action.

A further object is to provide a simple and effective means for adjusting the check: ing device so as to regulate at will the speed of the door in its closing movement.

To these ends, my invention consists in the novel features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of parts set forth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawing: Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view, partly in elevation, of a door check embodying my invention showing the same as it appears in connection with a door or door casing when the door is partly open. Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. 1, looking toward the right. Fig. 3 is a detail elevation of the toothed washer which forms a part of the friction adjusting means. Fig. 4: is a longitudinal sectional view, partly in elevation, of a modified form of the invention. Fig. 5 is an elevation viewed from the left hand side of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a de tail elevation of the screw as viewed from the right hand side of Fig. 4:.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

In the drawing, referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, 7 is a screw having a steep pitch and for this purpose 1 preferably employ a doublethreaded screw having an angle of 45 so that it may be rotated either by a force exerted in a longitudinal direction or by being rotated with respect to its nut.

8 is a casing having formed therewith or secured thereto a nut 9 with which the screw 7 has screw-threaded engagement. The screw and nut are assembled with a door and door casing in some suitable manner so that the door in its closing movement will impart a relative rotation to the screw and nut and in the present instance, I have shown the nut 9 and easing 8 secured to a door casing 10 in such a manner that the axis of the screw 7 and nut 9 is transverse to the plane of a door 11, the screw being so arranged that the door in its closing movement exerts a force upon the screw in a longitudinal direction, thus forcing the screw through the nut and consequently rotating the screw within the nut.

It is evident that there must be provided a suitable meansfor checking the screw in its rotative movement and to that end I have provided in the form of my invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, a rod 12 passing through a longitudinal hole 13 located centrally within the screw 7, said rod being provided at one end with suitable means to engage the door 11 and thus resist the rotation of said rod, said means in this form of my invention consisting of a rubber buffer 14E secured to said rod and adapted to engage the face of the door 11 in such a manner as to resist the turning of the rod. At the other end of the rod 12 there is pro vided a helical compression spring 15 encircling said rod and located within a recess 16, said spring bearing at one end against a shoulder 17 in said recess and at its other end against a washer 18 through which said rod passes.

A nut 19 having screw-threaded engagement with the rod 12 serves to adjust the washer 18 longitudinally of the rod 12 and hence acts to vary the degree of force which the spring exerts upon the rod in a longitudinal direction to move said rod toward the left so as to carry a cone bearing 20 formed on or secured to the rod 12 against a series of balls 21 and in turn cause said balls to bear with pressure against a ball race or cup 22 within the end of the screw 7. In this way, the adjustable retarding effect upon the rotating movement of the rod 12 is secured.

In order that the adjustment of the spring 15 may be preserved, the washer 18 is provided with a tooth or key 23 located in a longitudinal groove or key-way 24 provided within the screw 7 and a lock nut 25 is provided to secure the adjusting nut 19 in the desired position.

It is evident that there must be provided some suitable yielding means such as a spring or weight for imparting arotative movement to the screw 7 so as to cause the same to travel toward the right within the nut 9 as the door 11 opens and to this end 1 preferably employ a weight 26 which, of course, is the equivalent of a spring located within the casing 8 and connected in some suitable manner to the screw 7 preferably by means of a flexible member 27 from one end of which the weight is suspended and having its other end secured at 28 to the screw 7, said member being helically wound about said screw in such a manner as to wind and unwind as the screw rotates and moves longitudinally within the stationary nut 9. Preferably, the screw 7 is provided with a helical groove 29 to receive the flexible member 27 and guide the same as it winds and unwinds from the screw. It will now be evident that when the door 11 is closed either manually or by means of a usual door spring, it will engage the rubber butter 14 and the rubber being of a clinging nature will naturally tend to resist rotation of the rod 12 when the force of the door is applied longitudinally toward the left. Hence, since the rod 12 is connected to the screw 7 by the rotary frictional checking means hereinbefore described a resistance will be offered to the turning movement of the screw 7 and accordingly said screw in traversing the nut 9 toward the left from the position shown in Fig. 1 will have a checking influence upon the door in its closing movement. It is also evident that when the screw 7 is carried toward the left from the position shown in Fig. 1, it will be rotated within its nut and will consequently wind the flexible member 27 onto the screw and raise the weight 26, thereby storing up power so that when the door is subsequently opened the weight will fall and thereby act through the flexible mem ber 27 to impart a rotative movement to the screw 7 and thus cause said screw to travel toward the right within the nut 9 to the position shown in Fig. 1, ready to be engaged by the door when the same is closed again.

Sometimes it will be convenient to lock the checking device out of action so that.

the door may be closed without any checking effect and sometimes it may be convenient to arrange the check to constitute a stop for preventing the door from closing entirely. To these ends, I provide suitable means for locking the screw 7 at two points in its axial longitudinal movement, said means preferably consisting of a pin 30 slidably arranged within the casing 8 parallel to the screw 7 and of such a length as to be capable of projecting from one side or the other of'said casing, as desired.

The screw 7 which is provided at its left hand end with a shoulder or collar 31, which by the way serves as a stop to limit the motion of the screw toward the right, is also provided with a lug 32 projecting radially from said shoulder in position to be engaged by the left hand end of the pin 30, if said pin be moved toward the left from the position shown in Fig. 1, it being evident that the engagement of the pin with the lug, as just described, will lock the screw 7 against rotation in the position shown in Fig. 1 and will accordingly serve as a means for preventing the door 11 from being closed beyond the position shown in Fig. 1. If now it be desired to lock the checking device entirely out of action so that it will not resist the closing of the door at all, the screw 7 is provided at its right hand end with a lug 33 which is adapted to engage the right hand projecting end of the pin 30 and in this way, the screw 7 being locked against rotation, the device becomes inoperative.

Referring now to the form of my invention illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, this form is similar in many respects tothe form hereinbefore described and its principle of operation is similar, but it differs from the first form in the fact that the cooperative action of the screw and nut is different from the first form and the screw does not rotate at all, but instead the nut rotates.

Referring now to Figs. 4c, 5 and 6, 34: is a screw having a steep pitch and having screw-threaded engagement with a nut 85 having secured thereto or formed integral therewith a drum 36 upon which is wound a cord or other suitable flexible member 37 secured at one end to said drum and having suspended therefrom a weight 38, whereby said drum may be rotated. The nut 35 and the drum 36 are located within a suitable casing 39 within which there is also located a second nut 40 having screwthreaded engagement with the screw 34, there being provided ball bearings 41 and 42 for the nuts 35 and 40, respectively. The nut &0 has formed thereon or secured thereto a brake-drum 43 against the periphery of which bears a suitable brake-shoe 44L having a suitable adjusting means, in the present instance consisting of a screw 45, whereby the degree of friction with which the shoe bears against the drum may be regulated at will.

The screw 34: is provided at its right hand end with a pair of lugs 46, 46 separated by a space 47 into which a lug 48 carried by a door 49 is adapted to enter as the door approaches the screw, thereby positively locking said screw against rotation by reason of such interengagement of said lugs. It will now be evident that when the door 49 moves toward the left from the position shown in Fig. 4:, since the lug 48 interengages with the be evident that the rotative movement of the screw 34 during the closing movement of the door will be checked by the cooperative action of the brake-shoe 44 and brake-drum 43, which tend to resist the rotation of the nut 40.

It will be understood that when the screw 84 is carried toward the right under the influence of the weight 38 toward the position shown in Fig. 4, there must be some means provided to prevent the screw from traveling too far toward the right and to prevent the screw from rotating after the lug 48 has moved out of interengagement with the lugs 46 so that the lugs 46 will be properly positioned to receive the lug 48 on the next clos ing movement of the door. To this end, I provide the screw 34 with a collar or shoulder 50 at its left hand end arranged to abut against the outer face of the casing 39 and limiting the motion of the screw 34 toward the right and I provide said shoulder with a projecting lug 51 adapted to engage a stationary pin 52 secured to said casing, said pin and lug serving to prevent the screw from rotating after the lug 48 has passed out of interengagement with the lugs 46.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire by Letters Patent to secure is:

1. A door-check having, in combination, a nut, a screw having screw-threaded engagement with said nut, means for imparting a relative rotation to said screw and nut in one direction, means for checking the relative rotation of said screw and nut in the opposite direction, and means to lock said screw and nut against relative rotation.

2. A door-cheek having, in combination, a nut, a screw having screw-threaded engagement with said nut, means for imparting a relative'rotation to said screw and nut in one direction, means for checking the relative rotation of said screw and nut in the opposite direction, and means to lock said screw and nut against relative rotation at two points in their axial movement.

3. A door-check having, in combination, a nut, a screw having screw-threaded engagement with said nut, a flexible member wound about the axis ofsaid screw andnut and having one end attached to one of said elements, a weight suspended from the other end of said member thereby to impart a relative rotation to said screw and nut in one di reetion, and means for checking the relative rotation of said screw and nut.

4. A door-check having, in combination, a nut, a screw having screw-threaded engagement with said nut, a flexible member wound helically about said screw and having one end attached thereto, a weight suspended from the otheinend of said member thereby to impart a relative rotation to said screw and nut in one direction, and means for checking the relative rotation of said screw and nut.

5. A door-check having, in combination, a nut, a screw having screw-threaded engagement with said nut, said screw being provided with a helical groove, a flexible member attached at one end to said screw and wound helically about said screw in said groove, a weight suspended from the other end of said member thereby to impart a relative rotation to said screw and nut in one di rection, and means for checking the relative rotation of said screw and nut in the opposite direction.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM H. ASPEGREN.

Vitnesses LOUIS V. Jonas, SADIE V. MCCARTHY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

